On June 6, 2015 Oakland Police Officer Nicole Rhodes shot Demouria Hogg to death. Hogg had been unconscious behind the wheel of a BMW that, according to San Francisco police, had been involved in a robbery and a chase there the night before. Firefighters had reported seeing a firearm in the passenger’s seat, and police tried for an hour to rouse Hogg with loudspeakers, beanbag rounds, and by breaking the car’s windows. Finally they sent one officer in to grab the gun while Officer Rhodes provided covering fire through the windshield. Although she said she couldn’t see Hogg clearly, she also said that she saw him reach over to the passenger’s seat where the gun was still sitting. Rhodes fired two shots at Hogg, killing him (another officer fired a taser at about the same time).

The Community Response Team of the Anti Police-Terror Project interviewed 15 witnesses to the police action; read or watched media reports; listened to publicly-posted recordings of police, sheriff’s, and fire department radio chatter during the operation; analyzed bystanders’ photos and video of the scene; and discussed the case with an officer from another jurisdiction. A slightly edited version of the report is here.

Richmond Police Commission members say DA and Mayor are obstructing investigation of Pedie’s death.

Felix Hunziker wrote an editorial saying that the DA doesn’t have authority over the Commission, and that he colluded with the Commission’s Confidential Investigator and Appeals Officer (CIAO) to block the complaint. Mayor Butt replied, and Hunziker replied to that, as did Commissioner David Brown. The Contra Costa Times has picked up the story.

People of color and veteran activists know that murders and cover-ups by police are nothing new. What’s new is the recording equipment that enables us to document them, and the Internet, which enables us to publish this evidence.

After the video of Officer Slager gunning down Walter Scott as he was running away surfaced, Adam Johnson of Fairness & Accuracy In Media wrote, “most of the local press,” by simply repeating what police said, “amplified a storyline that, in retrospect, was entirely made up.” Even NBC News published a mock report based on “official sources,” observing that these were the only known sources before the video came out.

The police department in Baltimore has been quick to tweet about “violence,” “looting,” and “bottles and bricks being thrown at officers;” a local teacher tweeted her experience (“police were forcing busses to stop and unload all their passengers,” students “were trying to leave on various busses but couldn’t,” cops “in full riot gear marching toward any small social clique of students.” This video shows cops throwing things back at protesters, and WBAL TV in Baltimore interviewed gang members.

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